Billed as a big-bat third baseman when the White Sox spent $10 million to sign him out of Cuba last offseason, Dayan Viciedo “certainly appears to be gradually making his move across the diamond” according to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin.
Viciedo still considers third base his primary position after playing there almost exclusively at Double-A last season, but the 21-year-old added yesterday that he’ll “play wherever they tell me to play.” Mark Teahen is signed through 2012 and Paul Konerko is in the final year of his contract, so “wherever they tell me to play” will apparently be mostly first base.
Someone listed at 5-foot-11 and 240 pounds at age 21 was unlikely to stick at third base for long anyway, particularly after making 30 errors in just 284 chances in his minor-league debut. However, his lack of range won’t be much of an issue across the diamond and articles often referencing his “soft hands” indicate that he should be solid defensively at first base.
Unfortunately his bat is another issue, because Viciedo hit .280/.317/.391 with a terrible 89/23 K/BB ratio and just 32 extra-base hits in 130 games at Double-A. He was young for the Southern League, but Baseball America‘s scouting report says Viciedo “sits on fastballs to the point where he often looks helpless against offspeed pitches, doesn’t consistently center hittable pitches, and chases out of the strike zone too often.”
So in one year he’s gone from being a supposedly MLB-ready middle-of-the-lineup hitter and third baseman worth $10 million to minors-bound first baseman who barely cracked a .700 OPS at Double-A.